Peter Flood, whose father and uncle help the Irish mob control the local
unions, is an 8 year old boy playing in front of his house in 1961 Philadelphia
when his sister is struck by a car & killed. Victor Kopek, the
driver, is a crooked cop & the Floods next door neighbor. Uncle Phil
brings Charley Flood the news that Constantine, the mob boss, does not
want Kopek hurt, but Charley kills him anyway. After Uncle Phil takes
Charley to a meeting from which he never returns, he raises Peter along
with his own son Michael. For the rest of their lives Peter &
Michael will be uneasy rivals. Meanwhile, Peter finds a means of escape
from these family tensions when he starts training at Nick DiMaggio's boxing
gym. Inevitably, the chickens come home to roost as the story builds
to a violent climax.

As always, Pete Dexter, a Philadelphia newspaperman, writes a straightforward
punchy prose in this brutal story of Mob vendettas &, shall we say,
complicated family relations.